Industry News x Members in the Field

Members in The Field

You may remember the torrential downpours during the Players Championship this year, downpours that suspended play on Thursday and Friday with 60 mile an hour wind gusts on Saturday. The flooding and severe weather eventually forced a Monday finish for one of the PGA Tour’s finest events. You may also remember, that once play was able to be resumed, the course was in impeccable condition. The Michigan State Turf Club was a part of that effort. During an internship at Sawgrass Country Club in 2021, MSU Turf student Matt Haist worked under TPC Superintendent and MSU Turfgrass Alumni, Patrick Reinhardt. It was there that the idea was discussed of sending an email to all the MSU Turf Club members, to see who might be interested in volunteering at the Players Championship the following year. The club eventually sent several members and they had the opportunity to work alongside students from Penn State, Mississippi State, University of Connecticut, Horry Georgetown and others.

The week started out with an orientation on Saturday. Volunteers would learn their assignments for the week and be paired up with crew members. Days started at 4:30 am with course work done by 9:00 am. Assignments were on one side or the other, front nine or back nine. Jobs ranged from mowing tees, taking care of bunkers to watering hot spots on the fairways. “I’ve never had to worry

about walk mowing rough or moving a microphone off a tee before!”

Once their assignments were finished, crew members would gather and wait for further instructions on what else needed to be done. There was also the opportunity to volunteer during the championship tournament play. Club members would be positioned at a hole, being ready if an official needed the green to be blown off or if rain forced the need for squeegeeing. They were available for anything that might need to be done. Days typically would last somewhere between 12-18 hours. MSU student Anthony Kiser noted that he had tracked his steps during the nine days at Sawgrass. 261,000 steps; 145 miles walked, approximately 24

miles per day.

The rains eventually forced a Monday finish and most of the MSU Turf Club members stayed to help out. The guys got to stick around and see the finish, with Cameron Smith holding on for a one shot victory. They shared their thoughts on the week: 8 Seth Jenkins: “I really appreciated all the TPC Sawgrass agronomy, and their whole team, for inviting us down there.

For them to trust without having met us, especially me with mowing tees, you know, you don’t want any scalps or anything out there. You want perfect lines. I was just really appreciative that Jeff and his team let us help us out for the week.” 8 Anthony Kiser: “I was definitely grateful to be part of such an experience. I think the words of advice I would give to anybody coming into the program or thinking about doing it, volunteering is one of the best ways to network in our industry. This is kind of a tight group. Even though it’s such a massive group, it doesn’t seem like it once you start to get to know the core of the industry. I think that you learn a lot. You see new ideas, you learn things that maybe you didn’t know, this is how it’s done or how it could be done. I worked the US Open last summer and I think one of the differences I noticed right off the bat, between the two experiences, is that the media really kind of honed in on how difficult a job the maintenance crew has. People think, oh, you’re going to learn how to cut the fastest way, there’s more that goes into it than that.

I don’t think they see the long hours that go into it. There’s a lot of work that goes into it and they did a good job at highlighting it. They had a whole day, three hours where they spent with some of the guys on the crew with a drone coming to show every single task there is. And even that didn’t show, you know, the level of difficulty that this job really does have.” 8 Matt Haist: “I found one of the cool things to see is just how many people they had out there working on just the ground staff. I think they were saying, including volunteers and crew, there were 180 of us working. That and just all the different things that people are all doing, all the organization that goes into it, it’s just something you really don’t get a chance to • see anywhere else. It’s pretty spectacular when it all comes together and works out the way that it does to set up the course.”

8Patrick Reinhardt - Golf Course Superintendent -

TPC Sawgrass, MSU Graduate

“We were excited to have the Michigan State Turf students as a part of our team for The 2022 PLAYERS

Championship. College students have become an integral part of our team and help us build long lasting relationships. I am very proud of their commitment to the Championship and the contributions that they made during an extremely challenging week. Go Green!”

Related: 2021-2022 SCHOLARSHIP AWARD WINNERS Photos via MSU Turf Club on Twitter - @TurfState